My Favourite Chicken Curry Recipe

27 June 2012 UPDATE  - I have subsequently updated with some pictures of the latest batch that I have made - I did this because I love to know what I should be seeing, when I try out a recipe for the first time, so I thought I'd add the pictures for anyone wanting to try this out

We had a house warming dinner over the weekend.

Oh - yes, we have moved house , what with the construction finally over on the house and land package that we purchased just over 2 years ago with Porter Davis Homes . It has been an exciting ride. And mostly good, albeit a completely hair-raising and totally foreign experience.

But that will be the subject of another post , for now I want to share the recipe of my gluten free, dairy free and tomato free Chicken Curry. The recipe is an adapted version of  Durban Chicken Curry , which I found at food.com while looking for a nice simple tasty curry recipe a while back.

This is one that I get compliments about every single time I make it.

So here goes .....(notes updated 23/5/2012 to the end of the post)

Ingredients

• 1kg Boneless / Skinless Chicken pieces -
• Sweet Paprika - 
• Dairy Free Margarine -  2-3 tablespoons or more 
• 1 large sliced onion
• Garlic - 2 tablespoons chopped up ( roughly 2-3 large cloves ) 
• Ginger - 1 thumb size piece , or 1 tsp of already chopped 
• 2 tablespoons of Curry Powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon Tumeric 
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander 
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin 
• 1 Stick cinnamon ( or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon) 
• 2-3 Large Red Peppers ( Red Capsicum) 
• Chilli Powder 
• 500ml Gluten Free chicken Stock ( you may need less than this ) 
• 1 can of Soya Cooking Milk , Or Coconut Milk 

Equipment you'll need 

• A large non stick frying pan 
• A large casserole dish or oven proof crock pot - with lid. 
• Small blender - or blending / juicing attachment for a food processor. 
• Non-stick tongs and spatula 

Some notes on the ingredients 

 I prefer thighs , or thigh fillets - but if you prefer breasts that would work as well.

You will need a lot of Paprika, I am very generous when I coat my chicken , so if you don't have any in the house , buy a larger bottle, and if you do , get a refill to be sure .

I use canola spread ;  sunflower oil margarine also works well , as does olive oil margarine. Other oils ( such as avocado oil spread , or almond nut spread) don't fry up very well , the pan can get very hot, so avoid them.

I avoid the garlic and ginger paste combination , as you will invariably need a ratio of more garlic than ginger , and the commercial brands don't usually get the mix quite to my liking. Also , almost every single bottled brand that I have found ( except for 1 organic supplier) has sugar in it. Seriously Australia, sugar in the garlic? C'mon it's almost as bad as Australian mayonnaise , super sweet and watery - yugh!

Curry Powder - a good quality curry powder is important, I once made this recipe with the cheapest no name brand curry powder in the store , it was terrible. You can also make your own curry powder, which I will explain in a later post.

I use very little chilli , since most people I make this for prefer less spicy. But sometimes when I make it just for my husband and me ( and we freeze the excess to have as a warm-up meal later in the week) then I use a bit more chilli.

If you are in South Africa, you can use the Alpro Soya Cream substitute. Here in Australia I usually use a large can of organic , gluten free Coconut Milk , and sometimes a can of Nestle Soya Cooking Milk . I don't use soya milk that is sold in bottles as a milk substitute, as I find it is not creamy or thick enough for the recipe. Also if eating gluten free is important for you than check that the brand of Soya that you buy doesn't contain thickeners, which invariably contain gluten.

How to do it. 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 

Chop and blend the red peppers in a blender , it does not have to be a puree , but smaller is better. When I do it , they usually end up looking like the consistency of a chilli salsa. 

Melt the Margarine in a hot pan , coat the chicken pieces in paprika , and fry them in batches . Placing them  into a large oven proof casserole dish or crock pot when done. 

You want the chicken to start to brown a little , and for the paprika to go a bit darker , the margarine in the pan will also look a little reddish. Turn the heat on the cooker up or down as necessary to prevent the paprika from burning . The point here is to cook the paprika a little , and brown up the chicken a bit , if you have bits of paprika left in your pan between batches that's also fine. 

You may want to add margarine to the pan a teaspoon at a time if it starts to get a little dry.


27 June 2012 UPDATE - it should look a little something like this in the pan - and then placed into the casserole dish ( I cooked it with sweet potato in this batch) 

Once you are done with the chicken, add the chopped onion to the pan, and one last teaspoon of margarine. Cook for about a minute , until the onion is soft, add the ginger and garlic and all the ground spices, except the chilli powder. If you are using ground cinnamon , add it now. 



27 June 2012 UPDATE - My pan usually looks a bit like this when I'm stirring in all the spices ( although in this batch the onions were very juicy)

Let the Curry powder and spices heat up a little and cook. If you haven't already  , you may want to turn on the extractor fan on your range hood , as this step can result in much coughing and sneezing. If you don't have a range hood , you definitely want an open window nearby. This should be a very quick step, since you don't want to burn the spices, I usually give it a maximum of 2 -3 minutes, and less if the pan is VERY hot. 

Add the Red peppers (Capsicum) to the pan , and stir to mix in the spices, add the chicken stock , and shake in the chilli powder to taste. If you are using cinnamon sticks , add them now. 27 June 2012 UPDATE This is the tricky part - the pan in the picture below had a lot of liquid from the peppers (capsicum) and the onion, so I added chicken stock powder , 2 teaspoons, without mixing in any water. If your Pan is not as wet , then mix the stock with some water, or use a liquid stock( just watch out for hidden gluten) 

Add the Soya Milk , or Coconut Milk, and stir. Allow to heat up , with stirring , to a boil and then remove quickly from heat and pour the liquid over the chicken pieces in the casserole dish. 

27 June 2012 UPDATE - Your sauce should look something like this before you pour it over your chicken

Put the lid on the casserole/crock pot , and place in the oven .Cook for 1.5 hours .

27 June 2012 UPDATE - Once the sauce is over the chicken - it may  look a little dry on liquid ( see below picture ) - this is fine , as the water comes out of the veggies when it bakes ( see the AFTER picture)

Before Baking

After Baking 

After 1.5 hours , remove the dish from the oven. At this point , the chicken is usually cooked through and very tender , so I use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut up the thighs into smaller bite size chunks. I do not make perfect squares , and I do not try and evenly cut up each thigh into the same amount of pieces.

I kind of go at it , like a crazy lady , hacking away at anything that floats to the top, or that I can put out of the dish with my tongs. 

After you are happy that everything has been moved around and hacked to bits, turn the oven down to 100 degrees C, put the lid back on and put the curry back into the oven for another 30 minutes to an hour.

27 JUNE 2012 UPDATE - the final chicken curry - with sweet potato

I serve it with yellow rice ( rice cooked with turmeric) , some fruit chutney and occasionally  banana's in milk. 

Variations 

I have also on other occasions added chopped Sweet Potato , or Potato to the casserole , it thickens up the sauce very nicely.

Update (23/5/2012) 

If you use Red Peppers (Capsicums) that are very juicy , you may end up with a lot of water in the sauce, and the curry won't come out as creamy - so  , using Coconut milk is fine , or Coconut cream, but it should not be the "low-fat" variety , and the can should be at least 250 ml , small cans won't make the curry creamy.

Often I will judge the amount of liquid at the point where the blended peppers are added to the pan. If the pan is very wet , then I will add less liquid stock . 

If you want a more creamy curry , decrease the liquid Stock , and add an extra can of Coconut Cream , or Soya Milk .